Wednesday, September 20, 2006

I have been teaching art to kids in an after school program recently. The classes are held in the rarely used club house of an ex-pat villa area- a place that feels like a fake American movie set when you walk through.

After setting up yesterday I had 20 minutes to wait for the kids to arrive so decided I'd make use of the bar and have a cup of coffee. I ordered a latte, and the girl behind the bar jumped into action- I think it was the first drink she'd prepared all day. She frothed up some milk, and poured it into a tall latte jar, and then prepared two shots of esspresso- back-to-front order, I thought, but at that point I didn't really care. Then she realised if she poured the coffee into the milk the froth would be destroyed. So she carefull spooned the coffee in with a tiny teaspoon- one spoon at a time. By the time I got the coffee ten minutes later it was luke warm, but by god that froth looked good.

My teaching assistant, a young Chinese woman named Erica laughed and said: "We Chinese are diligent, but often not very clever". Her words, not mine.

I have also been doing some freelance voice-over audio recording for text-books and English language audio tapes in the last few months. Last week I was doing a recording in the top floor of the Population Services Bureau building. After the taping, we were waiting for the lift to take us downstairs and I was looking at a dirty, old, black medical chair in the hall. I pointed out that with its rudimentary metal stirrups it looked like a gynocological chair, and the sound technician said that it was actually an abortion chair. "Look," she pointed. "The big hole at the end of the seat there collects all the waste and that pipe there connects to the drains. So, let's go get lunch!".

4 comments:

First, that latte story totally reminds me of the lighting in your apartment. In fact, I think about that lighting all the time, and have told several people about it, as representative of the Chinese diligence/lack of forward thinking...

Secondly, I've often wondered at how normal/mainstream abortions are in China. The matter-of-fact way in which that woman described the technicalities is interesting...

Yeah the lighting is absurd. Phil says China is like a computer with all the software but none of the hardware to run it properly.

And the abortion thing got me thinking too- I'm going to have a chat with a few of my female Chinese friends and check it out- the attitude and reality of it here. I do know that in cases of aborting a second child it is pretty much accepted and encouraged due to the one child policy, but what I am really interested in is for unmarried girls or first "accidental" pregnancies in a married situation.I'll report back to ya!

About Me

Tales from a self-proclaimed Aussie Nomad in Shanghai.
It took me all of my first 20 years to leave Australia, finally ending up in Dili, East Timor in 2000. Since then I haven't wanted to stop traveling. Yet, as simply holidaying doesn't quite scratch the travel-bug's itch, I much prefer to live, work and play in the countries I visit. In my opinion, as insane as it can make you at times, cultural immersion is much more fulfilling than a postcard holiday.
Now I am living in Shanghai, with my better half, Philippe, and 20 million others. An artist, teacher and nomad, I embarked on this latest journey in August 2005.
And like the best journeys, its final destination is a mystery.